WELSHMAN Jamie Donaldson bounced back from a lost ball to announce his arrival into 2013 with a three-under-par 69 on day one of the Volvo Golf Champions at a wet and windy Durban Country Club.

WELSHMAN Jamie Donaldson bounced back from a lost ball to announce his arrival into 2013 with a three-under-par 69 on day one of the Volvo Golf Champions at a wet and windy Durban Country Club.

Despite rattling up a horrible double-bogey seven at the eighth when pulling his drive into lush vegetation and losing his ball, Irish Open champion Donaldson covered the final nine holes in four under to be in tied-fourth spot.

Donaldson’s ticket to the event was booked when scattering a stellar field at Royal Portrush last June, including world No.1 Rory McIlroy, for a four-shot victory and a first European Tour title in 255 attempts spanning the best part of 11 years.

His win plus a career-best finish in a Major when coming tied seventh in the US PGA at Kiawah Island helped Macclesfield-based Donaldson to an all-time high 19th place on the European Tour money list with £926,885 earnings. And ending 2012 47th in the world rankings means Pontypridd-born Donaldson will fulfil a boyhood dream by playing a first US Masters this spring.

After taking a month off over the festive period, a refreshed Donaldson admitted his first day back in the office couldn’t have gone much better despite his lost-ball mishap.

“It was a good finish and I played pretty nicely all day,” said Donaldson, as he eyes the first prize of £283,000.

“I hit one bad shot, lost a ball on a par-five but apart from that it was pretty good. I made some birdies coming in from hitting some solid shots. It’s a very difficult golf course and very severe in places and if you are off line, you’ve lost the ball.

“But I like it and if I can keep playing like this, there are some birdies to be made out there.

“I’ve just got to keep the ball in play.

“I pulled my drive off the eighth tee and lost the ball and then made par with the second ball for a double-bogey seven.

“The fairway is very narrow off the tee and I just pulled my drive. The birdies I made coming in resurrected my round and made up for that blob on the eighth.

“The vegetation around here is so dense you can’t even go in looking for your ball. It might be good if you’re looking for snakes. I haven’t seen any but there’s plenty of monkeys around. But this is not South Africa at its best as it rained for the final four holes after Wednesday when it was so hot you felt like passing out.

“My winter break was nice having had a couple of weeks holiday in Mauritius and relaxing with my family.

“I put the clubs away for a month, really didn’t do much apart from playing a little bit in Mauritius. It was a small tournament and a bit of fun.

“I’m starting afresh now and looking to improve on things in 2013.

“Last season was the best year to date but there’s many things to improve on.”

Meanwhile former paratrooper Thongchai Jaidee jumped into a three-stroke lead over Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen.

However, it was not the Thai golfer’s superb seven-under-par 65 that Els found himself mostly talking about afterwards, but one particular shot from Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.

The Open champion could not believe his eyes when Europe’s biggest hitter launched a drive of 419 yards at the downwind third hole.

“I’ve been coming here since 1986 I think and I’ve never seen a ball there, nobody has,” Els said.

“They should put a plaque down. I was coming from a different zip code. And I’ve got to compete against these animals!”

Els had the last laugh, though. He matched his playing partner’s birdie and out-scored him by five to keep his victory hopes firmly alive.

Jaidee, part of the 33-strong winners-only field thanks to his Wales Open victory at the Celtic Manor last June, was out on his own from the time he birdied six of the first 10 holes.

The 43-year-old led by five at one point, but that was cut to three late in the day despite the two South African stars having to contend with heavy rain.

“We probably got the bad side of the draw, but that’s part of golf,” said Oosthuizen, who faced similar conditions during his runaway seven-shot win in the 2010 Open at St Andrews.

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